


been wandering around but I still come back to you

by helsinkibaby



Category: Fame (TV)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3113540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Ian didn't know he was falling for Reggie, and one time he absolutely did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	been wandering around but I still come back to you

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: any, any het pairing, falling for your best friend

"Guess its true what they say... they're letting anyone in here these days."

Ian's grinning when he says it and when Reggie turns away from her locker to face him, her own grin is ear to ear. "They let you in, didn't they?" she counters immediately and he laughs as he pulls her into a hug. 

"We missed you," he tells her as he releases her. "Welcome back."

Her cheeks grow pink as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you. For... you know... everything."

Ian frowns. "Didn't do much."

"You were the first person to follow me out of that classroom... the first person to stand behind me on that table. You could have been expelled, but you did it anyway."

"Yeah, well..." Ian shrugs. "Seemed the thing to do, didn't it?"

Reggie shrugs, pulls her books from her locker and holds them in front of her chest. "Well... it meant a lot to me. To know I wasn't on my own."

Her cheeks are scarlet by this stage and Ian grins, slings an arm around her neck. "What are friends for?"

*  
When they finish the first run through of the first song they've ever written together, they are both in agreement. It's hokey, trite, over-sentimental and completely disgusting. 

They stare at one another for a moment, considering. 

"Want to run through it again?" Ian asks. 

Reggie is already reaching for the music. "Yeah."

They run through it a few times, trying out variations on words, riffs on the music. But every time he sings, "I'm trading in my silly pride, for what I'm seeing in your eyes," he finds himself looking in her eyes and smiling. 

She smiles back and suddenly the song's not quite as hokey as it appeared. 

*

Ian hates funerals. Not that he's been to many, Grandpa Ware's was the last one and he was ten then, so it's not like they're a regular thing. Except Grandpa was eighty-two when he died, had led a long, happy and pretty eventful life. 

Nicole was sixteen. 

He still can't wrap his head around it, that he's never going to see her again. It was only two weeks ago that he'd been arguing with her over her playing too much Frannie bleedin' Fortune on their radio show. Except now he knows he'd play Frannie non-stop from here to Kingdom Come if it meant he'd have Nicole back again. 

When he arrives at the chapel, he sees Reggie pacing up and down outside and he frowns because while Reggie's been a wreck these last few days, here she looks on the verge of a full blown panic attack. There's a sheet of paper in her hands that she's reading as she walks and even though he calls her, she jumps when he's beside her, like she never heard a bit of him. 

"You ok?" It's a stupid question, considering, and Reggie shakes her head. 

"It's this reading," she says, holding up the paper. "Mrs C asked me to do it and I said I would, for Nicole, you know? But every time I get halfway through it, I make a mistake and I start to stammer and I just..."

The words tumble rapidly from her lips and Ian doesn't think, acts purely on instinct. Pulling her into a hug, his arms go around her neck and he holds her tight. She's stiff for a moment but then she almost collapses against him, her forehead dropping onto his shoulder, her hands, reading and all, making fists in his jacket. 

She's shaking but he doesn't think she's crying and sure enough when she straightens, her eyes are dry. "Don't make me cry," she orders and he shrugs, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair back behind her ear. 

"Wouldn't dream of it," he tells her and he tries not to notice that her cheeks are pink, and if he does, he tells himself it's because of the cold. "Come on." He takes his hand in hers, laces their fingers together and squeezes. "I'll hold your hand."

*

Ian had forgotten how good it was to play with The Driven, to really do his thing, play his type of music. It's a relief to just let go after all the tension lately at the School of the Arts, a sure fire cure for burn out. 

He can't remember the last time he was this relaxed. 

Until he opens his eyes and sees Reggie in the crowd.

Not that he's unhappy to see her; he'd wanted her there. 

What he doesn't want is the jackass beside her coming on to her and not taking no for an answer. He knows Reggie well enough to know she's uncomfortable, which is when he first stops singing and says "Oi."

It's when the guy starts pawing at her, when Reggie tries to get away and he does it again that Ian sees red. 

Next thing he knows he's off the stage, is treating the guy to a lesson in manners and while he may be from London he throws in a Glasgow kiss for good measure. 

Security break it up and his School of the Arts friends look appalled but he regrets nothing. 

No-one treats Reggie like that and gets away with it. 

*

"What's going on between you and Reggie?"

Jesse asks the question and Ian knows he's looking at him like he has ten heads. "This again?" he asks, because it's not like he hasn't answered this before. 

Jesse doesn't speak, just raises an eloquent eyebrow. 

"We're mates," Ian tells him. "That's it."

Jesse holds up two palms in the universal sign of surrender. "If you say so."

*

It's a typical late summer day in New York. The sky is blue, the humidity is high and air conditioning is man's best friend. 

Ian can't get enough of it. 

Because after three weeks in England, this is glorious. Oh, it was great to see the place again, see family and friends, see London and stroll down King's Road, just like he used to. The fact however remains that an English summer still has more than its fair share of damp and rain, and these past three weeks seemed to have even more than that. 

So he has a spring in his step as he walks to Lou's, is looking forward to seeing everyone again before school starts next week. He's arranged to meet Reggie for lunch, they're planning to see who else is hanging around, maybe catch a movie later. He's got a bag of bits and bobs he picked up for her in London, costume jewellery that he thought she'd like, an elaborately patterned chiffon scarf that just screamed her name to him. 

His dad has pointed out that he'd picked up an awful lot of knickknacks for a girl who wasn't his girlfriend, but Ian had just rolled his eyes and said nothing. 

And when he gets to Lou's he finds himself doing it again, for a whole different reason. 

Because he sees Reggie for the first time in three weeks coming towards him, approaching from the opposite direction. She doesn't notice him at first, so he gets to see her with new eyes, all dressed for summer in a little skirt and t-shirt, all clashing patterns and bright colours, with a scarf in her hair that's nowhere near as nice as the one he bought for her. Her head bobs as she walks, doubtless in time to a tune only she can hear and there's a spring in her step that should match Ian's own. 

Except he's not moving. 

He's standing looking at her. 

Because she's been his best friend for close to a year and he's never noticed before how beautiful she is. 

Then she sees him and she stops too, a look of blank surprise on her face, like she can't believe he's actually there. 

Then she smiles. 

She smiles and he forgets all about beautiful, upgrades it to drop dead fucking gorgeous and how the hell has he never noticed that before?

Next thing he knows, she's barrelling into his arms and he acts purely on instinct, catching her around the waist when she throws her arms around his neck, lifting her up and spinning her so that her feet don't touch the ground. Her delighted laughter is music to his ears and when he finally sets her down, he's a little dizzy. 

He tells himself it's from all the spinning. 

When she doesn't let him go, doesn't step back, he tells himself that's what's wrong with her too. 

"Welcome home!" This close, her smile is even more dazzling and a thousand looks, a hundred comments from Jesse et al suddenly make a lot more sense. "Did you have a good time? I got all your postcards, I can't wait to hear every-"

She only stops talking because he can't stand this close to her, with her in his arms and not kiss her, so that's just what he does. Presses his lips over hers, slides one hand to the back of her head, the other resting lightly on her hip. He feels her smile, her lips curling under his as she kisses him back and while her arms had never moved from their circle around his neck, now they pull him in closer. 

When they part, her smile is even brighter, something he would have said was impossible. 

"Took you long enough," she tells him, and he grins. The world might have tilted on its axis, but some things don't change. 

"I'm a little slow," he admits. "But I get there in the end."

"Good," she says and she kisses him again. 

They don't meet up with anyone else that day and they don't make it to the movies either. But she loves the jewellery and she puts the scarf on straight away and she holds his hand every chance she gets. 

All in all, Ian calls that a win. 


End file.
